Bangladesh Bank’s Executive Director Shuvonkor Saha today offered unconditional apology before the High Court for distorting history in a book titled “Bangladesh Bank-er Itihash” (history of Bangladesh Bank).

Shuvonkor, also the editor of the book, appeared before the court and said that he had done a mistake by not publishing the picture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the book.

The court however did not pardon him and asked him to appear before the court in one week after it’s vacation.

The court will go on an annual vacation on March 15 and will reopen on March 31.

The court asked Shuvonkor to submit a report before the court on the steps taken for confiscating the book from the market and stopping its further publication.

The High Court bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Mohammad Ali fixed one week after vacation for further hearing in the issue.

Writ petitioner’s council Barrister ABM Altaf Hossain told The Daily Star, the court did not pardon Shuvonkor as his apology for distorting the Bangladesh’s history is unacceptable.

Earlier, Dr Kazi Ertaza Hasan, chairperson of Bangladesh Human Rights Development Commission, filed a writ petition challenging some of the contents of the book published by the central bank in 2017.

The petition argued that publishing pictures of then Pakistan's president Ayub Khan and East Pakistan's provincial governor Abdul Monem Khan in the book demeaned Bangladesh's independence and the Liberation War.

“The book did not contain any picture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” the petition also said.